# Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) vs Xweather Weather API

> Xweather Weather API scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) leads on security & auth. Both do weather current. Category scores, facts…

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- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Xweather Weather API scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) leads on security & auth. Both do weather current.

- Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific): grade E, 45.5/100, rank #656 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/met-office-datahub.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/met-office-datahub.json
- Xweather Weather API: grade B, 67.1/100, rank #219 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/xweather.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/xweather.json

## Which one, for what

### Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) (E)

Good for: Best when a UK answer has to come from the national weather service, and when the licence to republish matters.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 66 against 52

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No OpenAPI, llms.txt, SDK or MCP server

### Xweather Weather API (B)

Good for: Teams that need lightning, hail, road weather or tropical data beside ordinary conditions and forecasts, with an MCP server and an OpenAPI file ready for agents.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 74 against 48
- Schema & documentation, 83 against 32
- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 53
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 15
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 62

Watch for: The REST API documents `client_id` and `client_secret` only as query parameters, and the MCP server also accepts the key as `?api_key=`


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) | Xweather Weather API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 48 | 74 | Xweather Weather API +26 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 32 | 83 | Xweather Weather API +51 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 78 | Xweather Weather API +25 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 52 | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) +14 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 32 | Xweather Weather API +2 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 15 | 81 | Xweather Weather API +66 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 68 | Xweather Weather API +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **45.5 · E** | **67.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) | Xweather Weather API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Met Office | Vaisala Oyj |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://data.hub.api.metoffice.gov.uk/sitespecific/v0/point` | `https://data.api.xweather.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | BSD-3-Clause (utilities) | Proprietary service under the General Conditions of Subscription Services of Vaisala Group. The OpenAPI files and the agent skills on GitHub are MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 19 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.xweather/weather` |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-14 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-04-03 | 2020-06-01 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 0 stars, 1.4k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific).** Statutory UK weather service, with a FAQ licence to copy, publish and adapt the data. No OpenAPI, llms.txt, SDK or MCP server.

**Xweather Weather API.** A public OpenAPI file with 236 operations, a hosted MCP server in the official registry and a free tier of 15,000 accesses a month suit agents. REST credentials travel only in the query string, per-minute limits are unpublished, and the group terms bar commercial use of free plans and passing data to third parties unless a service description allows it.

## Before you call either

### Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)

1. Register an application and subscribe it to the Global Spot plan first. The key is tied to that order and shown once
2. Send the key in the apikey header with Accept: application/json, and latitude and longitude as query parameters
3. Add excludeParameterMetadata=true to drop the parameter descriptions from every response
4. Pick the timestep by need. hourly covers 48 hours, three-hourly 168, daily 7 days, and each call counts against the daily limit
5. Stop on a 429. The limit is daily and resets at 00:00 UTC

### Xweather Weather API

1. Check `success` and `error.code` on every response. Application errors such as `invalid_location` return HTTP 200 with `success` false
2. Send `fields`, `limit` and `plimit`. The docs put a 15-day hourly forecast at about 600 KB, and about 25 KB with three fields
3. Read `X-Cost-Tokens` after each call. Cost is the endpoint multiplier times the intervals requested, so narrow `from` and `to`
4. For MCP, send `Authorization: Bearer <client_id>_<client_secret>` and avoid the `api_key` query parameter, which puts the secret in the URL
5. Add `include_tags` or `include_tools` to the MCP URL to load only the tool groups the task needs
6. On 429 read `Retry-After` and the `X-RateLimit-Reset-*` headers. `maxhits_min` clears at the next minute, `maxhits` at the period reset

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) or Xweather Weather API?

Xweather Weather API scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific)'s 45.5 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) leads on security & auth.

### Do Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) and Xweather Weather API need an API key?

Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) needs an API key. Xweather Weather API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) and Xweather Weather API without installing anything?

Yes. Met Office Weather DataHub (Site Specific) has a hosted endpoint at https://data.hub.api.metoffice.gov.uk/sitespecific/v0/point and Xweather Weather API at https://data.api.xweather.com.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-xweather.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/met-office-datahub-vs-xweather.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "met-office-datahub", "b": "xweather"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare met-office-datahub xweather`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/met-office-datahub.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/xweather.json

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